SMITHFIELD, RI – Millions of people around the world are suffering from serious, long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic—physically, economically, and emotionally.
With a desire to help those affected by lingering symptoms, isolation, or grief as a result of the pandemic, Bryant Psychology Professor Joseph Trunzo has written a new book titled “Long Haul COVID: A Survivor’s Guide: Transform Your Pain & Find Your Way Forward.”
Trunzo is a clinical psychologist and expert in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), an evidence-based, scientifically driven approach that helps people make meaningful decisions and fully experience their lives. This focus, he suggests, is especially valuable in the aftermath of a global crisis. Trunzo and co-author Julie Luongo, a COVID-19 survivor, provide a practical guide to changing how one experiences pain and suffering in order to lead a fulfilling, vital life.
“Whatever your difficulties may be, ACT was designed to help you deal with your immediate suffering, improve your functioning, increase your quality of life, and meet challenges with more resilience.”
“The physical and mental toll of the pandemic has been devastating,” Trunzo notes in the book’s introduction. “Whatever your difficulties may be, ACT was designed to help you deal with your immediate suffering, improve your functioning, increase your quality of life, and meet challenges with more resilience.”
The book explores ways in which those with long-term COVID-19 symptoms (“long-haulers”) and others who struggle with stress, anxiety, or trauma can apply ACT principles and practices using experiential exercises, metaphors, and mindfulness meditations. At the end of each chapter, Luongo illustrates how she uses the ACT approaches mentioned, where she fumbled, what she did to recover, and how the exercises have helped her.
“Dr. Trunzo eloquently captures the power in all of us to transform desperate conditions into positivity, and by doing so, provides a beacon of hope for living a fulfilling life after the pandemic.”
“This book is a special gift to humanity given the immense amount of loss, isolation, and sadness that we have all experienced,” says Andrew J. D’Amico, Ph.D., Psychologist and Past President of the Pennsylvania Chapter of the Association of Contextual & Behavioral Sciences. “Dr. Trunzo eloquently captures the power in all of us to transform desperate conditions into positivity, and by doing so, provides a beacon of hope for living a fulfilling life after the pandemic.”
In his first book, “Living Beyond Lyme: Reclaim Your Life From Lyme Disease and Chronic Illness" (2018), Trunzo applies ACT to provide insights and strategies for improving quality of life when coping with Lyme disease and other difficult life challenges.
About Professor Trunzo
Joseph Trunzo, Ph.D., is Professor and Chair of the Department of Psychology at Bryant University and Deputy Director of the Center for Health and Behavioral Sciences (CHBS). He is a member of the Rhode Island Psychological Association, the American Psychological Association, the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS), and the Association for Contextual and Behavioral Sciences. He earned his Ph.D. at Drexel University, completed his pre-doctoral internship at the University of Vermont, and completed his postdoctoral training at the Centers for Behavioral & Preventive Medicine at the Brown University Medical School.
About Julie Luongo
Julie Luongo is a writer-editor, graduate of the Creative Writing Program at Temple University, and author of The Hard Way, a novel-in-stories. Her editing has helped people start businesses, finish creative projects, and get jobs, customers, attention, education, and money.
About Bryant University
For 158 years, Bryant University has been at the forefront of delivering an exceptional education that anticipates the future and prepares students to be innovative leaders of character in a changing world. Bryant delivers an innovative and uniquely integrated business and liberal arts education that inspires students to excel. With approximately 3,800 graduate and undergraduate students from 38 states and 49 countries, Bryant is recognized as a leader in international education and regularly receives top rankings from U.S. News and World Report, Bloomberg Businessweek, Forbes, and Barron's. Visit www.Bryant.edu.
